1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to improvements in heating and cooling systems and more particularly to a system using up to the entire roof of a home or building as a solar collector by isolating a portion of the attic and utilizing a blower, evaporator and filter to draw heated air over the evaporator coil, exhausting the heat in various ways and returning it to be recycled.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Numerous attempts have been made to utilize the heat that builds in the attic of a home or building in a meaningful way to improve heating and cooling efficiency or produce power for other uses. A common approach has been to utilize solar panels for the generation of heat and energy from the sun, but usually these panels must be placed on the roof of the structure in order to operate in the most efficient manner possible. Solar panels are very expensive, and the placement of numerous panels on the roof of a structure detracts from the structure""s appearance to a considerable degree.
Other attempts to utilize the heat normally building in the attic of a home involve costly additions to the home or significant modification to existing structure, in order to attempt to improve the heating and cooling capacity. Even then increased efficiencies are not significant. Numerous other attempts to improve certain features of the heating or cooling portions of a heat pump unit have been attempted. See for example U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,005,583; 4,030,312 and 4,163,369. These dwell on the improvement of certain features to provide, for example, increased efficiency in the heating capacity of an air-to-air heat pump system in cold weather. No significant improvements have been yet found that will utilize the high temperatures normally experienced in the attics of homes during hot weather or other energy saving activities that can be associated therewith. It is to this critical need that the present invention is directed.
From the foregoing, it is apparent that a primary objective of the present invention is to provide an improvement in heating and cooling systems that include all of the advantages of prior art devices and more and none of the disadvantages.
Another objective of the present invention is to provide a system for improved heating and cooling capabilities that can be retrofitted to existing heating and cooling systems.
Yet another objective of the present invention is to provide an improved heating and cooling system that will advantageously utilize the accumulated heat energy normally found in the attics of homes and buildings particularly during the hot summer months and especially in the space between roof rafters, the roof inside surface and a barrier material attached to the free inside edges of the roof rafters.
A further objective of the present invention is to provide a system of the type described which is less expensive than the utilization of solar panels to convert heat energy into other usable energy forms.
Yet a further objective of the present invention is to provide an improvement in a heating and cooling system of the type described which can be used to bring the temperature of air in the attic of a residence or building near the temperature of the outside air thereby making the attic a more user friendly location throughout the year.
Still another further objective of the present invention is to provide a heating and cooling system of the type described which can be used with a heat exchanger to pre-heat water for household needs and swimming pools.
Yet another objective of the present invention is to provide a heating and cooling system of the type described that can be used in conjunction with a heat engine to drive a compressor or a generator and produce electric current for residential or other use.
From these objectives it can be seen that the present invention includes a heating and cooling system that utilizes the roof of a home or building as a solar collector. A heat barrier is secured to the free inside edges of the roof rafters to reflect radiant heat into air spaces formed between the rafters, the attic side of the roof and the heat barrier materials. A loft or upper attic floor is built in the upper portion of the attic that is also covered with the heat barrier material. Thus airflow channels are formed between the rafters of the roof, the heat barrier materials and the inside surface of the roof. A liquid refrigerant is moved under pressure through a heated evaporated coil where it becomes a heated vapor under pressure that can be used in various ways.
In one embodiment, the loft is separated transversely into two sections, and the sections are connected by a ducting system that includes a filter, an evaporator and a blower. The blower produces airflow through the filter and through the evaporator coil through the balance of the duct system and into the second separated portion of the loft. Airflow continues down selected formed channels between rafters, barrier material and inside roof to the boxed in eave where it moves to the other end and flows up the selected formed channels between rafters, barrier material and inside roof to the first separated portion of the loft to be re-circulated by the blower. This closed loop system can be used in conjunction with a conventional air-to-air heat pump system, with portions of such a system or with other well known devices such as heat exchangers and heat engines.
In a second embodiment, the attic loft is divided longitudinally, and two separate systems like the first embodiment are installed. The system on the hotter roof slope in this embodiment runs until the other roof slope temperature reaches a higher temperature. The first system then shuts down, and the second system commences.
The present invention is easily applied to existing heat pump installations where it can supplement or replace the existing heat pump system when conditions are appropriate, or it can be bypassed to let the conventional system operate in its usual way.
Thus there has been outlined the more important features of the invention in order that the detailed description that follows may be better understood and in order that the present contribution to the art may be better appreciated. There are, of course, additional features of the invention that will be described hereinafter and which will form the subject matter of the claims appended hereto. In that respect, before explaining at least one embodiment of the invention in detail, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited in its arrangement of the components set forth in the following description and illustrated in the drawings. The invention is capable of other embodiments and of being practiced and carried out in various ways.
It is also to be understood that the phraseology and terminology employed herein are for the purpose of description and should not be regarded as limiting in any respect. Those skilled in the art will appreciate that the concept upon which this disclosure is based may readily be utilized as a basis for designing other structures, methods and systems for carrying out the several purposes of this development. It is important that the claims be regarded as including such equivalent methods and products resulting therefrom that do not depart from the spirit and scope of the present invention. The application is neither intended to define the invention, which is measured by its claims, nor to limit its scope in any way.
Thus, the objects of the invention set forth above, along with the various features of novelty, which characterize the invention, are noted with particularity in the claims annexed to and forming a part of this disclosure. For a better understanding of the invention, its operating advantages and the specific results obtained by its use, reference should be made to the following detailed specification taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings wherein like Characters of reference designate like parts throughout the several views.